Cyanohydrins chain extensions

Selective oxidation at C-2 of 3-deoxyaldonic acids by the action of sodium perchlorate in the presence of vanadium pentaoxide has been used for the preparation of deoxyketoaldonic acids, although low yields of pure compounds are obtained. The necessary 3-deoxyaldonic acids may be prepared by a cyanohydrin chain-extension reaction. Several syntheses have been reported for 3-deoxy-D-araZu rao-hept-2-ulosonic acid starting from 2-deoxy-D-arabino hexose 310,311 DAHP (122) has also been similarly prepared.312... 

This section presents some basic condensation reactions that result in the chain elongation of sugars. The examples presented here are historically important to the general field of carbohydrate chemistry, and include the cyanohydrin chain extension and the nitromethane condensation. 

The cyanohydrin chain extension results when a sugar is treated with sodium cyanide. The resulting cyanohydrin is then hydrolyzed to the corresponding carboxylic acid, resulting in a one-carbon... 

The reaction is used for the chain extension of aldoses in the synthesis of new or unusual sugars In this case the starting material l arabinose is an abundant natural product and possesses the correct configurations at its three chirality centers for elaboration to the relatively rare l enantiomers of glucose and mannose After cyanohydrin formation the cyano groups are converted to aldehyde functions by hydrogenation m aqueous solution Under these conditions —C=N is reduced to —CH=NH and hydrolyzes rapidly to —CH=0 Use of a poisoned palladium on barium sulfate catalyst prevents further reduction to the alditols... 

Chain extension of the aldopentose ( —)-arabinose by way of the derived cyanohydrin gave a mixture of (-l-)-glucose and (-l-)-mannose. 

Kiliani-Fischer synthesis (Section 25.20) A synthetic method for carbohydrate chain extension. The new carbon-carbon bond is formed by converting an aldose to its cyanohydrin. Reduction of the cyano group to an aldehyde function completes the synthesis. 

Fischer s original method for conversion of the nitrile into an aldehyde involved hydrolysis to a carboxylic acid, ring closure to a cyclic ester (lactone), and subsequent reduction. A modern improvement is to reduce the nitrile over a palladium catalyst, yielding an imine intermediate that is hydrolyzed to an aldehyde. Note that the cyanohydrin is formed as a mixture of stereoisomers at the new chirality center, so two new aldoses, differing only in their stereochemistry at C2, Tesult from Kiliani-Fischer synthesis. Chain extension of D-arabinose, for example, yields a mixture of D-glucose and o-mannose. 

Deoxy-3-fluoro-D-glucose (25%) and -mannose (40%) were prepared from 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-arabinose by a chain-extension reaction (cyanohydrin synthesis). Likewise, 4-deoxy-4-fluoro-D-glucose ° (27%) and -mannose (45%) were prepared from 3-deoxy-3-fluoro-D-arabinose. ... 

For the synthesis of D-glucuronic acid, methods of oxidation of suitable D-glucose derivatives have been devised during the past two decades these procedures have been comprehensively reviewed by Marsh,6 Mehltretter,7 and Heyns and Paulsen.8 For special purposes, for example, for the preparation of 6-I4C-labelled D-glucuronic acid, chain-extension reactions of 1,2-O-isopropylidene-a-D-xy/o-pen-todialdo-I,4-fiiranose by the cyanohydrin synthesis9 or by ethynyla-tion10 are used, but these frequently yield mixtures of D-glucuronic acid and L-iduronic acid. 

Chain-extension reactions constitute a more widely used approach. Thus, the cyanohydrin synthesis followed by base-catalyzed cyclization and /1-elimination to iminolactones, which then undergo stepwise hydrolysis, affords 3-deoxy-2-glyculosonic acids.313 The overall yield of this reaction is low. Paerels314 used this method to prepare the first crystalline members of this group, namely 3-deoxy-D-m //iro-hex-2-ulosopyranosonic acid (2-keto-3-deoxy-D-gluconic acid, KDG, 119), and the L isomer, starting from D-ribose and L-arabinose, respectively. The synthesis of 119 is illustrated in Scheme 10. 

Chain extension by way of cyanohydrin formation (Section 25.20) The Kiliani-Fischer synthesis proceeds by nucleophilic addition of HCN to an aldose, followed by conversion of the cyano group to an aldehyde. A mixture of stereoisomers results the two aldoses are epimeric at C-2. Section 25.20 describes the modern version of the Kiliani-Fischer synthesis. The example at the right illustrates the classical version. 

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